Treaty of Hogsmeade
by ofjamesandlily
Summary: Everyone knows Lily Evans and her friends absolutely despise the Marauders. When sixth year comes along, many complications arise between the two groups that can only be settled in one way: the signing of a magically binding treaty with clauses you cannot break. Naturally, Lily and James end up at each other's throats with almost every single clause broken.


**Chapter 1 – Off His Rocker**

She noticed him the moment she got a proper look around Platform 9 ¾. Out of all the spectacular things before her, he was the one that caught her interest the most. He was an odd-looking boy. His black hair looked like it desperately needed a combing, his glasses looked too large for his face, he was on the shorter side with the sleeves of his robes just a tad longer than his arms, and he seemed to be just short of actually bouncing with excitement.

It just so happened that within that exact moment that Lily Evans was observing James Potter, he noticed her too. His eyes swept swiftly across the platform until they stopped at her. Lily gave him a shaky smile, trying in vain to overcome her nervousness. It seemed as though he was battling the same emotion since he reciprocated in the same manner. They broke eye contact as Severus nudged her along and she was forced to move. She lost sight of the overly excited boy after that.

Currently—almost six years later—she was sitting in Charms class with him and glaring holes into the back of his abnormally messy hair. These were her OWLs that she was trying to get notes for, for Merlin's sake, and _he just wouldn't shut up_. The bell signalling the end of class interrupted her thoughts of silently murdering the guy. She angrily gathered her things and shoved past him to leave the class, not bothering to turn back at his angry outburst toward her.

A week later, Lily quietly slid into a table seat at the library and pulled out her notes from her book bag.

"You're studying with us today?!" her best friend, Marlene McKinnon, gasped excitedly. She was of course referring to herself and their other friend, Dorcas Meadowes. Dorcas smiled happily towards Lily, awaiting her response.

"Yeah," Lily laughed at their expressions. Marlene swiftly pulled her into a quick hug. One would think Lily just announced getting married. Her smile faltered when she thought of the reason behind her studying with Marlene and Dorcas. "Severus has been acting up more than usual lately…"

"Oh, to hell with him," Marlene said dismissively. Dorcas shot her a warning look. This was something important to Lily.

"What happened?" Dorcas asked softly.

"Well… nothing really. It's just… he just, he's acting differently. Like he doesn't like to do the same things we used to when we were younger. And he's been hanging out with Avery and Mulciber more and he has… other interests, if you know what I mean."

"Mm, I heard what Mulciber did to Mary the other day, I hoped it wasn't true but Mary won't talk about it," Marlene added.

"Yeah, and I'm worried Severus is going to go down the same path…" Lily ended sadly.

Dorcas and Marlene shared a glance, not exactly sure how to comfort Lily as neither of them particularly liked Snape.

"Well, we can't just sit around being sad all day, Lily, cheer up! We have a lot of studying to do, and I know you love studying," Marlene said.

"I don't _love_ studying," Lily laughed a little. Dorcas joined in.

"Remember when Amos Diggory asked me out because you wouldn't go out with him because you would rather study?" Marlene reminded Lily.

"Okay, that is because I have priorities and dating isn't really at the top of the list."

"But you dated him a few months after, at the beginning of fifth year."

"Because he came back hotter! Therefore, moving up on the list of priorities," Lily reasoned.

"Remember when he wrote you both songs to get you back?" Dorcas laughed at the memory. "And he was able to serenade you, Lily, but couldn't when he broke up with Marlene because she hexed him?"

Marlene and Lily shuddered. "Oh please, let's never speak of the time we dated Amos Diggory again," Lily said.

"Agreed," Marlene muttered.

"And let us study now to enrich our minds and pass these OWLs," Lily said, opening her book.

Right then, they heard loud footsteps and laughing coming towards the secluded area where their table was at. "Hey, Sirius, let's sit over there," they heard a loud voice shout, disrupting the tranquility of the library.

"And suddenly, I don't really feel like studying here," Lily remarked. The three girls nodded in agreement and immediately started to pack up their things and got up.

"Aw now, where are we going?" Sirius Black drawled when he saw the girls get up to leave.

"You're not leaving because of us, are you?" his best friend James Potter snickered sitting at one of the chairs they just unoccupied and stretched.

"Yes, we are, that is exactly why we're leaving," Lily said monotonously, wanting to leave before they all start arguing again.

"Well good, we were hoping you girls would do that," Black admitted, as he sat next to Potter. Seeing Lily and Marlene still glaring at him he added, "Well? Aren't you gonna leave? Or are you sticking around to watch us study?"

"I think you're incapable of studying Black, you see, to study you need to be literate first," Lily said.

Marlene and Dorcas didn't hide their giggles as Black glared at Lily.

"Aren't you going to say anything, James?" Black asked Potter who was uncharacteristically being quieter than usual. It was usually him who fought with Lily.

"Right, now you need Potter to fight your battles too? Would you like me to get Lupin to feed you as well?" Lily wondering aloud. There was something about the Marauders that irked her to no end.

"Now, now, Evans, you mustn't be so mean," Potter smirked at her. "We came here to study and you're going off on us so rudely." Lily's eyes narrowed at him. Her eyes were 'one of a kind,' she was constantly told. The brightest of green eyes you'd ever seen. She constantly used this to her advantage knowing her glares can throw people off at times. She was hoping it was working on Potter and it seemed like it had because after this he just spoke nonsense. "After all, not… all of us can... fight at your level, it's a bit difficult to match at times…"

The three girls and Black all looked at him strangely. _What was he saying?_

"What the hell are you on about?" Marlene questioned. It didn't sound like anything Potter would ever say to Lily. He always tried to make himself seemed better than her at everything.

Potter seemed to realize this and sat shocked. This time Black came to the rescue.

"What he's saying is Evans needs to calm down, now please leave."

Neither of them moved, not wanting to do exactly as Black said.

"I think Potter is officially off his rocker, let's leave before we catch it," Marlene stated and three of them left the library and headed back to the Gryffindor common room.

Back in their dormitory, Lily and Marlene were just finishing up reviewing their notes for their Charms OWL.

"I don't think it'll be too hard?" Marlene asked after her brain was positively fried.

"No, especially not Charms…" Lily added, stifling a yawn.

"Dinner is starting soon, lets pack up yeah?"

"Yeah," Lily agreed quickly shoving her notes away. She was so tired of all the books and parchment and writing that she couldn't wait to stop it. Tomorrow was their first exam, she had no idea how she would do this for two more weeks.

"Do you reckon we should review Transfiguration when we get back?" Lily wondered as she and Marlene walked downstairs to the Gryffindor common room. Dorcas wasn't with them because Dorcas has this habit of walking off and wandering away on her own to clear her head. When she heard their roommates Mary Macdonald and Colleen Archer were taking a break to go for a walk, she tagged along. Marlene and Lily knew she probably wasn't with them anymore because that's just how Dorcas is. She needs to be on her own every once in a while.

"To be quite honest with you, I don't really plan on studying ahead on anything. I plan on studying for Transfiguration the day before the exam," Marlene answered.

"Okay," Lily replied. "I wonder where Dorcas is, do you think she's hungry?"

"I'm sure Dorcas knows how to tell time and knows when dinner gets served."

Lily affectionately rolled her eyes at Marlene. She was just so rudely blunt at times. They were making their way down the million stairs that were between Gryffindor Tower and the Great Hall when Lily noticed a very familiar figure ahead of them.

"Sev!" she called out, hurrying to catch up with the boy. Marlene didn't bother, she seemed to be dragging her feet along.

"Hey, Lily," Severus said nervously, stopping and turning towards her. He was clutching a book to his chest quite tightly and for a moment Lily thought he was skipping dinner to go to the library.

"Going to dinner?" she asked, walking along to keep them moving.

"Yeah."

"Why do you have a book? Are you studying for the Charms OWL tomorrow?"

"Uh, I'm—yes," he stuttered. Lily looked at him suspiciously. He was stupid to think that he could hide things from Lily, she's known him for almost half her life. She met his dark eyes hidden behind a few locks of darker hair the fell to his face. Lily had a hunch about what the book he was desperately clinging to himself really was, and it was nowhere near the material they covered in Charms. "What?" he ended up asking her gruffly when she continued to stare at him.

"Nothing it's just…" Lily wasn't sure if she wanted to have her suspicions confirmed, so she asked him a different question to cover up. "You're acting strangely, you have studied before now, right? You're not just cramming last minute?"

Lily tried to ignore the way his shoulders sank in relief.

"No, I'm—well actually, yeah sort of, you caught me," he chuckled quietly. Lily's heart sank. His eyes darted up to catch her reaction, and he would have missed it if he wasn't quick, Lily wasn't one to wear her heart on her sleeve. She knew he lied, of course she knew. He lied that he hadn't studied so that Lily wouldn't question him about his odd behaviour. This disappointed her deeply, they were supposed to be best friends. Although, they haven't quite been _best_ friends for a while, but she knew they weren't taking any steps closer with him lying to her. Lily's pace slowed down and Severus seemed to panic when he noticed. Thinking she was going to call him out on lying he quickly made up an excuse. "Uh, Lil, I think I'm actually going to run to the library first. I should make sure I have everything I need for our exam tomorrow. See you around."

And with that he hurried away. For some reason this made Lily _even more_ disappointed. He just took a coward's exit to avoid her questioning him, even though she had no plans to do so.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Marlene asked, coming to stand beside Lily who was still staring at the corner that Severus turned down and disappeared.

"He lied to me. He wasn't cramming for our exam; he just didn't want me to know what he was carrying. I know it's not even close to our recommended readings and I think he knew that I knew too…" Lily said sadly.

"Oh, Lily," Marlene cooed, "but you've known for a while that he's not been very honest with you."

"I know, I just feel like somehow this separated us further."

Marlene put her hand gently on Lily's shoulder.

"I know this is upsetting you but do you know what else he's separated us from?" Marlene asked. Lily looked at her in confusion. "The Great Hall. The slimy git just had to lead you the opposite way. Now come on let's get back on track, I'm starving."

Unable to stop the smile from spreading on her face, Lily realized that they indeed weren't closer to the Great Hall than they had been. She followed Marlene with one thought on repeat in her head.

 _Why did Severus have to act like this?_


End file.
